Minimum wage: Service sector among 400 macro companies given leeway

Hoteliers and security service providers are among the 400 macro companies with six or more workers nationwide that have been given leeway to defer the implementation of the minimum wage until Dec 31 this year, Human Resource Minister Datuk Richard Riot said today. He said after January 1 next year, his ministry would not give anymore exemption to any company that is required to pay the minimum wage of RM800 a month in Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan and RM900 in the peninsula under the Minimum Wages Order 2012 for the private sector. The latest application letter (for deferment) received was from a plantation company in Sarawak which would be referred to the National Wages Consultative Council for a decision, told reporters after launching the state-level Pesta Birumuh 2013 and 1Malaysia Support For Housewives and Azam Kerja programmes here. Micro companies are categorised as those with five workers and below. He said there were a total of about 12.8 million workers in Malaysia at present, including 1.4 million civil servants and 1.5 million foreign workers. However there were no official figures on illegal workers but estimated statistics showed that for every legal foreign worker, there was at least one illegal worker, making a total three million (foreign workers) in the country, he said. In his speech, Riot said the 1Malaysia Support For Housewives programme introduced by his ministry involved 40,000 housewives from various job sectors, registration on the JobsMalaysia portal and involvement in income generation programmes this year throughout the country. Till May this year, under the programme ,JobsMalaysia succeeded in helping 27,131 housewives, single mothers, disabled women and other target groups to generate income, he said. As for the 1Azam poverty alleviation programme, he said 7,000 people, 5,000 in the peninsula and 1,000 each in Sabah and Sarawak, would be assisted under it this year.